CHILDREN with stronger neurocognitive skills appear to live longer into adulthood, according to a major US study that tracked nearly 50,000 participants. Eight out of nine early-life cognitive measures, including IQ and arithmetic, were linked to a 9 to 15 per cent lower risk of death through middle age.
The research builds on previous evidence suggesting that higher intelligence is associated with reduced mortality. However, earlier studies did not fully account for childhood adversity, such as poverty, crowded housing, or family instability. This new analysis sought to determine whether neurocognitive advantages in childhood continue to confer protection against premature death when set against the backdrop of early life difficulties.
The findings come from the Collaborative Perinatal Project, which enrolled children born between 1959 and 1966 at 12 academic medical centres in the United States. Of the 49,853 children followed, just over half were male and nearly half were born to Black mothers. Participants’ neurocognitive skills were measured across visual-motor, sensory-motor, auditory-vocal, intelligence, and academic domains. These were later linked to mortality data from the National Death Index covering 1979 to 2016. Higher scores were consistently associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality. For example, each standard deviation increase in full-scale IQ corresponded with a 15 per cent lower risk of death, while stronger arithmetic skills were associated with a 23 per cent reduction. Yet, among children who faced multiple, overlapping adversities, the protective effect of cognitive strengths diminished.
The study highlights the long-term health value of early neurocognitive development, while also highlighting its limitations in the face of significant adversity. Future interventions may need to combine cognitive support with targeted measures to mitigate the effects of poverty and family instability.
Reference
Yu J et al. Adverse childhood experiences, neurocognitive functions, and long-term mortality risk. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(9):e2531283.
